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Systems Change Resources
Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) – http://www.industrialareasfoundation.org/
The leaders and organizers of the Industrial Areas Foundation
build organizations whose primary purpose is power - the ability
to act - and whose chief product is social change. They continue
to practice what the Founding Fathers preached: the ongoing
attempt to make life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
everyday realities for more and more Americans. The IAF is non-ideological
and strictly non-partisan, but proudly, publicly, and persistently
political. The IAF builds a political base within society's
rich and complex third sector - the sector of voluntary institutions
that includes religious congregations, labor locals, homeowner
groups, recovery groups, parents associations, settlement houses,
immigrant societies, schools, seminaries, orders of men and
women religious, and others. And then the leaders use that base
to compete at times, to confront at times, and to cooperate
at times with leaders in the public and private sectors The
IAF develops organizations that use power - organized people
and organized money - in effective ways. The secret to the IAF's
success lies in its commitment to identify, recruit, train,
and develop leaders in every corner of every community where
IAF works. The IAF is indeed a radical organization in this
specific sense: it has a radical belief in the potential of
the vast majority of people to grow and develop as leaders,
to be full members of the body politic, to speak and act with
others on their own behalf. And IAF does indeed use a radical
tactic: the face-to-face, one-to-one individual meeting whose
purpose is to initiate a public relationship and to re-knit
the frayed social fabric. The living reality of the IAF is overwhelmingly
present in the 55 IAF affiliates functioning in 21 states, Canada,
the United Kingdom, and Germany. Regional gatherings of those
local groups - IAF East in the northeast corridor and Southwest
IAF in the American southwest - also meet, plan, and take action.
National IAF conducts 10-day intensive training sessions and
sets standards for the approximately 150 professional organizers
working in the organizing efforts.
LifeCycles – http://www.leaderresources.org
This
process of ministry formation has grown out of the experience
of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, which has been
a pioneer in renewing the life and ministry of its congregations
by empowering them to call and train from their own membership
local ministry support teams. Each congregation identified the
ministry to which God called them and identified specific people
to lead them in various roles. After a time of preparation,
the entire team was commissioned in a liturgy which also included
the renewal of baptismal vows by the entire congregation and
the ordination of those called to ordained roles.
People from
around the country and the world were drawn to the simplicity,
the empowerment of every member and the renewal of the congregations
inherent in this process. Responding to the requests of many
around the globe, the diocese decided to revise their curriculum,
building on their experience.
The Episcopal
Diocese of Nevada also had years of experience in local ministry
development. They and the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming, active
participants in the national movement in ministry development
known as ''Living Stones,'' joined the project along with Harvesters
-- a ministry development partnership of the Episcopal dioceses
and seminaries of New England.
This program
draws from the experience and insight of people who have been
engaged in the process of ministry development for many years.
LifeCycles is being written and continually supplemented by
a team of people from these dioceses working with LeaderResources
as the editor and publisher. On one hand, it has been written
for ourselves -- it is another of the ongoing revisions we do
to improve our materials and keep the process fresh and relevant.
On the other hand, we are sharing our experience with you. We
do not presume that what works for us will necessarily work
for you. So, this program is being published electronically
to enable you to adapt and revise it to fit your needs. In fact,
we believe this process will work best when you make it your
own. So, we encourage you to see what we did, try it out, change
it and send us your improvements. We would love to learn from
you as we hope you will learn from us. Welcome to LifeCycles
-- a process of ministry development that has, is and will continue
to improve as a now global learning community lives and works
with it, continually sharing with one another ideas and resources
to enrich it.
LifeCycles
generally is used in one of three ways:
- As a
foundational program of spiritual formation and education
for
adults -- especially in congregations seeking to deepen their
members' faith lives and increase their members' participation
and leadership in the life and mission of the church.
- In the
context of that process, as a way to prepare and train local
ministry support teams, some of whom will be commissioned
to specific roles, some ordained.
- To support
the ongoing process whereby such local ministry support teams
continue to build skills, gain knowledge, increase understanding,
develop spiritually and support one another in the exercise
of their mutual ministry.
Peace and Justice – http://www.episcopalchurch.org/peace-justice/
The Peace and Justice Ministries Office of the Episcopal Church
equips Episcopalians to carry out the promise made in their
Baptismal Covenant to "strive for peace and justice and
respect the dignity of every human being." The programs
seek to support justice ministries at the local level by supporting
networks - domestic and international, by providing resources,
by sustaining committees and networks, and by advocating the
social policies of the church to government.
Canon
COM/Standing
Committee Resources
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